45 new councils set to cut carbon emissions and save through the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management programme

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11 May 2007
Carbon Trust now working with nearly a third of UK’s local authorities

The Carbon Trust today announced that 45 new local authorities are set to cut carbon emissions and reduce energy bills by joining phase 5 of its Local Authority Carbon Management (LACM) programme. In the first four phases of the programme annual savings of more than £33 million and 500,000 tonnes of CO2 were identified.

The Carbon Trust is now working with 143 of the UK’s 468 local authorities – just under one third – through the LACM programme, which provides councils with practical advice on cutting their carbon footprint and reducing energy costs. In the last phase of the programme, local authorities on average committed to reduce their identified carbon emissions by 20 per cent over the next five years.


Richard Rugg, Public Sector Programme Manager at the Carbon Trust, said,
“Climate change is the biggest environmental threat currently faced by the UK and the reduction of carbon emissions, the main cause of climate change, should now be a key priority for all organisations, including local authorities. Improving energy efficiency and therefore reducing energy bills is crucial if local authorities are to make best use of tax payer’s money.

“Given the success of the first four phases of our local authority programme, we’re hugely excited by the prospect of working with forty five more local authorities to establish good carbon management practise. The carbon and energy savings made so far as a result of the programme have been great, and we’re looking forward to building on these achievements with the new participants.

“Although we’re proud to be working with nearly a third of all local authorities, we would urge other councils to get in touch so they too can play their role in the fight against climate change.”

The Local Authorities Carbon Management programme is designed to deliver improved energy management to reduce emissions under the direct control of the local authority such as buildings, vehicle fleets, street-lighting and landfill sites. It also provides practical support to organisations by helping them identify carbon saving opportunities, providing tools to analyse energy consumption and delivering workshop support for staff and senior managers to enable them to ‘embed’ carbon management into the day to day business of the council. The programme is supported by a bespoke toolkit – a web-based manual that gives detailed guidance on the programme’s process, technical advice and examples of best practice.

The fifth phase of the Carbon Trust’s Local Authorities Carbon Management programme will run until March 2008. Any local authority that would like to be considered for the next phase of the programme should contact the Carbon Trust by emailing richard.rugg@carbontrust.co.uk.

 
 
Footnotes
 

Editor’s Notes

  • For more details or to arrange an interview, please contact the Carbon Trust Press Office on T: 020 7544 3100 or email: carbontrust@fishburn-hedges.co.uk
  • Participants for phase five are as follows: London Borough of Richmond, London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority, London Borough of Bromley, Somerset County Council, Swindon Borough Council, Torbay Council, Exeter City Council, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, Barnsley Council, Scarborough Borough Council, City of York, Stockton-On-Tees Borough Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Halton Borough Council, Blackpool Borough Council, West Sussex County Council, Oxford City Council, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Northampton Borough Council, Wolverhampton City Council, Telford & Wreckin Council, Hertfordshire County Council, St Albans Council, Norfolk Council, Colchester Borough Council, Braintree Council, Uttlesford Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council, Torfaen Council, Angus Council, Clackmanannshire Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council, East Dunbartonshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, Midlothian Council, Scottish Borders Council, Shetland Islands Council, South Ayrshire Council, Stirling Council and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

The Carbon Trust

  • The Carbon Trust is a private company set up by government in response to the threat of climate change, to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. The Carbon Trust works with UK business and the public sector to create practical business-focused solutions through its external work in five complementary areas: insights, solutions, innovations, enterprises and investments. Together these help to explain, deliver, develop, create and finance low carbon enterprise.
  • The Carbon Trust is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Invest NI.
    For more information on the Carbon Trust visit www.carbontrust.co.uk or call the Carbon Trust Advice Line on 0800 085 2005.